Despite the dreary weather, members of Keystone Valley Fire Department continued their training series last evening by focusing on search and rescue, a critical part of truck company operations. Tonight’s training was led by Lieutenant Legieko who is career firefighter full-time and also continues to serve his hometown as a volunteer. Lt. Legieko brings vast knowledge and real world experience to our training and this is very valuable for our newer firefighters.

The KVFD East Station in Pomeroy has a training course established in the basement that allows firefighters to experience a real live atmosphere by training in a room with low visibility; and with normal room contents, obstacles, and hazards present.

Tonight crews were divided up as two entry teams and able to come together to affect a rescue of a person. Crews encountered some hazards which required personnel to “think outside the box” and adapt and overcome the circumstances, to complete the search or make a rescue. Crews entered the structure through the KVFD forcible entry door prop which allows the firefighters to force entry into a structure and maintain their ability to remain calm and get into the structure as quickly as possible.

When conducting a primary search for victims, some teams are not as efficient or coordinated as they could be. To improve the chances of quickly and safely locating victims, firefighters were coached to bring the right tools along. Typically, this means a set of irons, a thermal imaging camera and additional hand tools.

They also learned to:

Get in, search and get out quickly. Remember that the longer a victim is left in the IDLH*, their chances for survival diminishes rapidly. A secondary search always follows a primary search.

Under the right conditions, it's acceptable for partners to separate themselves by a few feet to cover more area, as long as voice contact is maintained.

While searching, the first firefighter should be rapidly checking the area from the wall outward and the furniture he comes into contact with and the second should be searching the middle of the room that the first firefighter can't reach. Using this technique, the firefighters can easily cover an entire room in seconds.

Crews conducted several evolutions and were debriefed after each evolution.

*The term immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) is defined by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as exposure to airborne contaminants that is "likely to cause death or immediate or delayed permanent adverse health effects or prevent escape from such an environment."